@Sheetal: I agree with you that there is a lot to do here in India to spread the awareness of the rising problem about the e-wastes and what an individual should do with the old electronics staffs they want to get rid of. Also, as you have said, there is a need of proper infrastructure supported by government agencies looking after this issue. There are some scattered initiatives organized mostly by some private companies in some cities to encourage people to deposit e-wastes at particular collection points (mostly at some shopping malls) in exchange of some discounts offered on products, but this has to consistant and similar awareness programs are needed more & more to spread it across the country. Government could invite public/private participation to bring more ideas to handle this issue efficiently.

@ Sanjib, I agree with you that US and may be other western countries produce more e-waste as compared to India but the point I was making was that these countries have a mechanism to handle their e-waste or any dry waste for that matter. When we go to US, even in any apartment when you throw waste there are different categories of bins kept and the system is in place for handling waste. Even the normal citizen is quite aware of what are the differnt categories of waste and one must not mix ewaste with kitchen waste and soon..

In India in all apartment there is only bin and everyhold when they put the waste they put the kitchen waste, wire, small papers, plastic everyything together and then throws out as a single polythene cover called waste bag. People are getting aware of recycling but still lots need to be done at the individual level and of course at government level. With Indian population being the second largest in the world its important the waste gets handled properly. And the speed at which Indian consumers are using electronics goods, its important care needs to be taken.

@Sheetal: I guess in India, e-waste generated per capita is a way less as compared to US and European countries [29.7Kg per inhabitant in US vs. 2.2Kg per inhabitant in India]. But if you go through the report in the link provided, India is one of the top destination countries, where the used CRT monitors, CRT TVs are exported for processing. So India in other words, India is one of consumers of the e-waste!!

"According to one industry source, it is likely that future U.S. exports of CRTs for recycling will end up in India, as the only other glass-to-glass furnaces in the world (in China and Malaysia) are scheduled to close by 2013."

I agree with you that the e-waste generated in India is bound to increase in future mainly because of the mobile phone, tabs, computers used & changed more frequently by people and no solid infrastructure [only 4 regulatory instruments in India vs. 92 in US] for governing & managing e-waste yet in every states.

I've watched a good E-Waste processor process trailer truck loads of electronics and it is an impressive sight. After the various structural metals are removed (frames, goors, covers), the checklist of electonic components to salvage can be addressed. After that, the various subsystems can be disassembled into the appropriate recycling containers and the gold can be extracted from the circuit boards. At the end of the day, the consumer goods have disappeared and many raw materials are available for recycling. The most important step is to intercept E-Waste from the landfill waste trail and redirect it to an E-Waste processor. In our town, E-Waste is accepted at the transfer center for free whereas trash for the landfill requires a payment of 20 cents a pound. People are motivated to separate out their heavy electronic waste.

E-Waste situaton is really a monstrous one. The speed at which people change cell phone, new gadgets come in the market and existing devices go bad, handling E-Waste must be addressed at government level. In developing countries like India the common people still do not have access to proper infrastructure to handle E-Waste. People throw E-Waste along with the organc waste or dry waste (paper and plastic).

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